Capitals Head Coach Barry Trotz Impressed with Hershey Bears

Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz during a game in 2015 at Hershey.

Sunday night, the Bears were handed only their second regulation loss in 2016 by the Providence Bruins. In attendance for the game was Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz. And as Trotz currently leads the Capitals to one of the best records in hockey history, his thoughts on the current Bears squad are very high.

“Obviously, I’m not going to judge the Bears on one game,” Trotz said after the game. “Just look at their body of work. I think they’ve been pretty consistent with both goaltenders, the defense has developed; they’ve got good leadership with [Mike] Moore and [Ryan] Stanton on the back.

“Some young guys that are developing – you also see that up front. You’ve got veteran guys like [Chris] Bourque, you’ve got younger guys like Nathan Walker. I felt [Walker] was very effective all night. You’ve got great veteran guys like Zach Sill playing with Liam O’Brien. We’ve got a good combination of veteran players and developing young players.”

Overall, the 16 season NHL veteran coach thinks this Bears team is very solid. “They have four lines with good defense and good goaltending. Hopefully, we are both playing deep into the spring.”

The development of young players in Hershey is key to Washington’s current success as 13 current Capitals have spent some time in Chocolate Town. But the development now of players with the Bears is major to Washington’s future success.

“We would like to leave some of the young guys here for a couple years to develop and mature the right way. I think we are trying to build a roster systematically, mirroring the systems of Hershey and Washington, even with the way we teach terminology.”

The mix of prospects and veterans has been major in Hershey’s success this season, too. “An example might be: we start the game with [Jakub] Vrana and [Chandler] Stephenson with Bourque. Really solid veteran players so that gives you a combination of developing players, playing in the roles that hopefully they’ll play in the NHL. With a third line like of O’Brien, Sill, and Mitchell; those are the type of roles they’ll play for the Washington Capitals.

“We want to mirror everything here and there so when a player comes up it feels the same and he doesn’t have to overthink things. I’m really happy with the development of the players. I think developing and winning championships in the development process is very important for us.”